


Melting Point

by ebenflo



Category: Beauty and the Beast - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Beauty and the Beast, F/M, I do what I want, bastardised disney, loki is a disney prince, no talking wardrobes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 00:20:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2088582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebenflo/pseuds/ebenflo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dark re-telling of the classic story Beauty & The Beast; where the beauty has brains, and the beast  a heart of ice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time, in a far away land called Wisconsin, in a realm known as Midgard, there lived a fair maiden Elizabeth Nell Collins. A woman of books and science, she yearned to explore far away places; Africa, Australia, and the Orient. For years, her knowledge and beauty went unnoticed; her walls were the city limits, and her imagination her only escape. For fate bound her to the side of her father. A mathematical genius...but also a drunk, and a bully. Still, she continued to hope, and wish.

But sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for...


	2. Once Upon A Time

The nights in Asgard were longer than ever before, stretching not just across hours but entire days, lost to the darkness. Silence fell as thick as the snow that encrusted everything in sight. Lakes, frozen over, sparkled like panes of glass in the moonlight. The only sound that pierced this unnatural twilight was the hoot of a distant owl, a lonely cry against the bleak backdrop. And the hushed footsteps of a handmaiden hurtling toward her master's chamber.

Most of the remaining occupants of the castle slumbered, though their sleep was uneasy. Nothing had been right since the usurper took the throne. In Loki's hands the kingdom had fallen into despair.

The handmaiden hurried down the hallway toward the king's private rooms. There had been a visitor at the front gates; a woman. There was something unsettling and familiar about the visitor, but if the name came to her at all, the handmaiden dared not utter it.

_My son..._

Loki startled from sleep. He had dreamt of them all. Odin, Thor...Frigga. they had stood at the end of his bed, staring at him with dark holes for eyes, bottomless. They said nothing, but in their absolute silence accused him of everything.

"A dream," he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Nothing more. I am king." He sat on the edge of his bed, sneering at the empty space in front of him. "I am king."

"M'lord."

She stood quivering in the doorway, a small shadow. A gift from a neighbouring realm, part of a peace treaty. They had sent her as a potential wife and ally. He had banished her to the servants' quarters.

"Be brief," he said menacingly.

"There is...a woman."

"A woman who dares disturb her king's sleep?" he demanded. He could smell the fear rolling off the girl. Fear had always had such a particular scent, musky and hot. "And what does this woman say?"

"Nothing, m'lord, only that she craves an audience with the king."

Loki weighed up his options. Kill the woman? Kill the handmaiden? Kill them both? Or...entertain himself with an audience with the woman, as she had requested, before killing them both. Yes, that held a certain appeal. And though he wouldn't admit it to himself, he was curious. There hadn't been any visitors to the castle in many moons. Most of Asgard was either dead or imprisoned. The few remaining rebel groups were powerless to overturn him.

 

She stood mere feet from the gates, her face hidden in sackcloth and shadow.

"Woman?"

"I am but a humble peasant my king, come to beg for food and water for my child."

Loki crossed the distance to the gates in long strides, pausing to take in this new thing.

"Is that so?"

The woman drew back her cloak and revealed the face of a tired, haggard old thing, withered by the years. Loki found her laughable.

  
"You dare come to my palace and demand these things of me? And what would you offer me then?"

The woman reached into the folds of her cloak and withdrew a small white flower, its tips covered in frost. "Love."

Loki recoiled as if stung by her words.

"Love?" he spat the word out angrily. "Love? You offer me something that does not exist. Love is a child's concept, a lie. Begone, leave this place lest I take your head."

But before Loki could fulfill his promise the ragged robes of the woman fell away, and in her place stood a shimmering vision, more familiar, more lovely than Loki could recall.

"Mother?"

"Oh my son," Frigga's image said sadly, "you have learned nothing."

Loki could not compose himself in her presence, too long gone from his life. He fell to his knees before the mirage.

"Mother I did not know-"

"There are many things you do not know," Frigga said softly, transparent fingers cradling Loki's cheek. "And there are many things you must learn still."

The snow blossom hung in the air between them, suspended by magic. Frigga stepped back, already beginning to fade from his view.

"You have until the last petal falls, my son. Find wisdom, for your family. Find peace, for your people. And most importantly, find love."

Loki kneeled with head bowed until there was only darkness, and the last echoes of her voice a whisper on the wind. And when he rose he found he towered over the handmaiden, whose windpipe he crushed with hands of blue stone. His eyes saw dull red, and his miserable cry was an animal howl above the swirling storm.


End file.
